Please remember, this is a literacy map. Make sure to reference Social Studies standards because some standards can not covered through literacy instruction.

*If a book is listed as an “Interactive Read-Aloud”, it can be found in your school’s bookroom.

Unit 2: North American History Grade 3
Length: 4 weeks
Overarching Questions:
●What is the main character’s most important personality trait?
●How do characters respond to challenges they face?
●What lesson does the main character learn by the end of the story?
●What is the main idea of the text and what specific details help me to determine this?
●How are the important points in each text similar or different?
Texts
Read-Alouds
(Bolded selections can be used as anchor texts. Other selections are teacher choice as time allows)
Grandfather’s Journeyby Cheyanne Again
Interactive Read-Alouds by Linda Hoyt (pg. 13)
(this book can be used to discuss immigration and why people wanted to come to the United States)
Text Dependent Questions
  1. What does the author tell us about what the Grandfather did when he was a young man?
  2. Why did Grandfather “wait no more” and take his family back to his homeland?
  3. What was life like when Grandfather returned to Japan?
  4. What evidence does the author provide to show that Grandfather was upset by the war?
  5. What do the narrator and his grandfather have in common?
Vocabulary
●marvel
●astonish
●scatter
●homeland
●homesick
How Many Days to America by Eve Bunting
Text Dependent Questions
  1. How did the women show resourcefulness when the engine motor broke?
  2. How did the song and its words help solve the children’s fearfulness? Did the song help anyone else?
  3. Did the mother or father ever feel fear in the story?
Vocabulary
●harbor
●quay
●garnet
●barnacle
●anxious
Dandelions by Eve Bunting
Text Dependent Questions
  1. How was life different for Zoe and her family in the west compared to their home in Illinois?
  2. How are Mama and Zoe chanted by their new surroundings in the west?
Vocabulary
●burrow
●ferry
●obliged
●soddy
●stake
Quickwrite
Imagine your family transported back in time to a dwelling like the one in Dandelions. Which members of your family would adapt best to the conditions there? What about yourself?
Text Dependent Question to compare and contrast “How Many Days to America” and “Dandelions” for RL 3.9
  1. How are the themes similar/different in the books?
  2. How are the settings and plots similar/different in each book?
  3. Does the author leave me with a similar feeling about people and life in each book?

Coyote Places the Stars by Harriet Peck Taylor
(Achieve the Core unit)
Text Dependent Questions
  1. When did this story take place? (Pg. 17)
  2. Why does the author portray the Coyote as skillful with a bow and arrow? (Pg. 17)
  3. What words does the author use to describe Coyote before he goes up into the sky? How does Coyote change after he has placed the stars?
  4. What words did the author use to describe the movement of the animals? (Pg. 21)
  5. How did the animals feel about Coyote at the end of the story? (Pg. 48)
Vocabulary
●descend
●declare
●gaze
●canyon
●roaming
●See Achieve the Core unit plan for additional vocabulary
Additional Read-Aloud Options:
Lincoln and Grace: Why Abraham Lincoln Grew a Beard by Steve Metzger
Molly’s Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen
Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
Magic Tree House: Thanksgiving on Thursday
Magic Tree House: Civil War on Sunday
Magic Tree House: Revolutionary War on Wednesday
Texts for Guided Reading(bolded selections can be used as anchor texts. Other selections are teacher choice as time allows)
Fiction
● Rough Face Girl an Algonquin Fairytale (Benchmark Universe Unit 5) (L40 and Reader’s Theatre in Unit 7 for multiple reading levels)
Text Dependent Questions:
  1. Is the story Rough Face Girl a fable or a type of folktale? Use evidence from the text to support your thinking.
  2. What lesson does the main character learn by the end of the story?
  3. What is Rough Face Girl’s most important character trait? How do the other characters respond to her because of this trait? Use evidence from the text to support your thinking.
  4. On page 7, the author uses the word “unique” to describe the Invisible One. What does this word mean? Use context clues to support your thinking.
  5. On page 11, why does the author say, “The young girl’s heart was a drum in her chest.”?
Vocabulary
●unique
●boldly
●aura
●enthusiasm
●invisible
●Pourquoi Tales (Benchmark Universe) (L30)
●How the West Got Wild (Spider Magazine/March 2016)
●Harriet Tubman (Benchmark Universe Reader’s Theatre) (L13-L28)
●Survival at Plymouth and A Helping Hand in New Amsterdam (Benchmark Universe)
Non-Fiction
●Three Historical Communities of North America (Benchmark Universe) (L38) (pairs well with Grandfather's Journey)
Text Dependent Questions:
  1. What is the main idea of chapter ______? What key ideas or supporting details from the text helped you determine this?
  2. How are the important points in chapter ______and chapter ______similar/different? Use evidence from both chapters to support your thinking.
  3. What is the main idea of the Historical Perspective on page 14? Use evidence from the text feature to support your thinking.
  4. On page 11, we can infer that Chinese men spent most of their time working. What clues from the text can support this inference?
  5. What is the main idea of the illustration on page 8? What evidence from the picture reveals the main idea?
Vocabulary
●immigrant
●tenements
●stoops
●discriminated
●trade
●Where did the Bison Go? (Spider Magazine) (March 2016)
●Pocahontas and Squanto (Benchmark Universe) (L40) (you may decide to only read the chapters “Early American Communities” and then choose to either read “Pocahontas” or “Squanto”)
●Survival at Plymouth (Benchmark Universe) (L20/40)
●George Washington and Abraham Lincoln (Benchmark Universe) (L20/L38)
Primary Sources to Reference when using texts
-Primary and Secondary Sources Lesson
· Jamestown and Pocahontas
· The U.S. Constitution
Bookroom Texts (identify at home school)
Mentor Sentences (Language Support)
  1. “How many days to America?” my little sister asked. (use commas and quotation marks in dialogue)
  2. “I missed the songbirds,” Mrs. Svenson said. (use commas and quotation marks in dialogue)
  3. Day after day we trundled along, our wagon wheels making their own tracks through the tall grass. (nouns, verbs, cap., punc.)
  4. We cooked our meals outside the wagon and slept on Mama’s quilts spread on the ground. (nouns, verbs, cap., punc.)

Writing Assignments
Narrative
· You have read the story Rough Face Girl. Imagine you are either Rough Face Girl or the Invisible One. Writing from either the point of view of Rough Face Girl or the Invisible One. Describe what happens after you get married. Be sure to connect your story to the story you have just read. Remember to follow the conventions of standard written English.
Informational
· You have read the book, The Three Historical Communities of North America about the historical communities of Mesa Verde, Jamestown, and Plymouth. Each of these communities had similarities and differences. Choose two of the communities to compare and contrast and use evidence from both texts you choose. Remember to follow the conventions of standard written English.
Opinion
· You have read the book Pocahontas and Squanto describing the interactions of these two historical figures with the early American colonists of Jamestown and Plymouth. In your opinion, who had more rights to the land in Virginia and Massachusetts, the colonists or the Native Americans? Support your opinion with reasons and examples from the text. Remember to follow the conventions of standard written English.
Writing Expectations
Quick Writes (not for theDraftbook)
· Primary Source Image “Pocahontas meets King James”
1. Look closely at the image of Pocahontas meeting King James. What can you infer?
· Jamestown Exposition Image
Look closely at the image. When do you think this primary source document was produced?
· In the book, Pocahontas and Squanto,you see two images on the bottom of page 7. How are these two images alike and different?
Research/Project Ideas
●North American Historical figure biography research project
Standards
Reading Informational
RI 3.9 Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
Reading Literature
RL 3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
RL 3.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
RL 3.9 Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series).
Social Studies
S.S. 3.16 Use timelines and historical passages to summarize the history of a region, including events, inventions/inventors, artists, writers, and political figures. (C, G, H, P, TN) Suggestions are as follows: Christopher Columbus, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Daniel Boone, Nancy Ward, Thomas Jefferson, Betsy Ross, Noah Webster, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Harriett Tubman, Geronimo, George Washington Carver, Georgia O’Keefe, Amelia Earhart, E.B. White, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Dian Fossey, and Barack Obama.
S.S. 3.17 Compare and contrast a primary source and secondary source of the same event or topic. (C, H)
3.14 Interpret different texts and primary sources to describe the major components of culture including language, clothing, food, art, beliefs, customs, and music. (C, H)
Writing
3.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
3.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
Language *continue language standards from above.
L.3.1a Explain the function of nouns- singular and plural
L.3.1i Produce simple sentences
L.3.2- demonstrate command of the conventions of capitalization and punctuation
L.3.1b Form and use irregular plural nouns
L.3.1a Explain the function of reg. Verbs.
L.3.2c use commas and quotation marks in dialogue